Emily Dickinson Death Be Not Proud
Death and the afterlife have been widely debated about since the world began. It is part of our human nature to question the unknown. Some argue that there is no afterlife, and others argue that we will have eternal life and immortality. Though it is an equivocal topic, poets and writers write their take on it. Each person's take on death can be vastly different; We see that in the two poems: “Death, Be Not Proud” by John Donne, and “Because I Could Not Stop For Death” by Emily Dickinson. Though they both speak about death, each has a different mood. Donne’s poem addresses death with a mocking and pitying tone, while Dickinson’s poem has a more flirtatious and friendly mood toward death. To begin with, Donne’s poem has a mocking
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It starts off the poem with, “Because I could not stop for Death- He kindly stopped for me.” Later in the poem it says, “And I had put away my labor and leisure too, For His Civility.” Death took her from her busy life and treated her with civility and kindness. Another aspect of the poem is that every time she refers to Death, she capitalizes the first letter such as “Death” or “He,” signifying that she sees him as someone powerful. Completely opposite to Donne's poem who saw him as weak and pitiful. Death, in this poem, took her on a nice carriage ride to her new home. She refers to this journey in the last stanza, “Since then - ‘tis Centuries - and yet feels shorter than the Day.” This is similar to the famous phrase, “Time flies when you’re having fun.” Just like a nice carriage date, her “date” with Death passed quickly. If Death had been a scary and ferocious being, she would not have spoken with such calm words. Another way he was very friendly to her was when he was taking her to see familiar things. He took her to see nice things such as children at recess, fields of grain, and a sunset. If he had been taking her to hell, or some other dark place, he wouldn’t have shown her these happy things. This was his way of letting her say goodbye to the familiar things in her life before he took her to her new life. Unlike Donne, who sees Death as a lowlife, Dickinson
It starts off the poem with, “Because I could not stop for Death- He kindly stopped for me.” Later in the poem it says, “And I had put away my labor and leisure too, For His Civility.” Death took her from her busy life and treated her with civility and kindness. Another aspect of the poem is that every time she refers to Death, she capitalizes the first letter such as “Death” or “He,” signifying that she sees him as someone powerful. Completely opposite to Donne's poem who saw him as weak and pitiful. Death, in this poem, took her on a nice carriage ride to her new home. She refers to this journey in the last stanza, “Since then - ‘tis Centuries - and yet feels shorter than the Day.” This is similar to the famous phrase, “Time flies when you’re having fun.” Just like a nice carriage date, her “date” with Death passed quickly. If Death had been a scary and ferocious being, she would not have spoken with such calm words. Another way he was very friendly to her was when he was taking her to see familiar things. He took her to see nice things such as children at recess, fields of grain, and a sunset. If he had been taking her to hell, or some other dark place, he wouldn’t have shown her these happy things. This was his way of letting her say goodbye to the familiar things in her life before he took her to her new life. Unlike Donne, who sees Death as a lowlife, Dickinson